How do you merge a quarterback who majors in running a classic west coast offense which majors in short completions with a couple of speedy receivers who like to catch the deep ball but want to avoid getting pounded after catching short passes?
One of those receivers gets on the ground when a tackler approaches him after a short catch. The other receiver is bigger but he isn’t fond of the short over the middle passes, either.
The dilemma which I just described is what Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg must figure out before the Eagles play the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.
Michael Vick may be sidelined for an extended period of time, so they won’t be able to rely on the big play as much as they have the last few games.
Reid is going to be forced to find a way to win some games with Kevin Kolb, whom he believed was good enough to take over from McNabb and lead this team to a Super Bowl title.
He also the guy who Reid said he thought would get crucified if he made some mistakes. I don’t know if Reid doubts Kolb’s physical or psychological toughness but he’s got to find a formula which will work now. It’s obvious that when Reid sent Kolb into the game on Sunday, he kept him under wraps.
He didn’t want Kolb to make a mistake, but going forward he must let him take some chances by throwing the ball downfield. It won’t help Reid’s confidence in Kolb that the half of the few times the quarterback threw the ball downfield against the Skins, he had it nearly picked off.
The two big play receivers in this offense, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, contributed four catches for 34 yards against the Skins. I don’t think the Eagles can win with those two major weapons contributing such a small amount.
I’ve pointed out previously that Jackson and Maclin don’t fit Kolb’s style of running the west coast offense. In a perfect design, Kolb should be throwing to receivers with more size and ability to take a hit after catching the ball over the middle.
This was disregarded this off season when everybody was talking about how great it was to have a quarterback finally running the offense the way it’s supposed to be run. Once Vick took over, the offense turned back into the big play unit it was under Donovan McNabb.
How can you run the west coast offense with all of those short throws to a guy like Jackson, who is now getting on the ground when he is approached by a big tackler? Jackson, who is not happy with his contract, seems to have decided that he’s not going to get injured and miss his big pay day, next year.
He was knocked out of the preseason game against the Chiefs and since then he gets on the ground when he catches the ball over the middle.
This isn’t unprecedented because Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce used to get on the ground after catches over the middle when they performed in St. Louis with Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk in the “Greatest Show On Turf” offense. The big difference in that offense and the classic west coast offense is that the west coast majors in short passes.
That Rams offense which was developed by Ernie Zampese and Don Coryell, stresses deep seam routes and was run by Dan Fouts and Troy Aikman. It is now employed by Phillip Rivers in San Diego and Mike Matz in Chicago.
What will Reid and Mornhinweg stress with Kolb, Jackson and Maclin? Will they stress the deep ball or the short pass?
Jackson and Maclin flourish with the deep ball, but Kolb needs to have room to step into his throws or he can’t get enough velocity on the ball deep. It’s going to be harder for Reid to design plays which allow Kolb to get the ball deep to Jackson and Maclin.
Simple…
“HE WON’T”!!!
Lost cause.
I just learned that Avant wasn’t supposed to catch the Hail Mary. His job was to deflect the pass to Celek.
I agreee with you all. How can anyone have any faith in Reid? Same problems for 11 years….same philosophy for 11 years. Its time for all coaches to be fired! I am so sick of Kevin Kolb already and REALLY sick of the retards on WIP ripping 5 , when they got their wish and he is gone. When is that big Goof Angelo going to start ripping Reid? How about COWARD Eskin. I tell you all this team has too much drama and I am sick of football already.
That is why I thought the would work Riley Cooper into the offense but they must see something he doesn’t have
BTW
I don’t blame someone of Jacksons’ size for not wanting to go over the middle
Ozzman
Better question is why do you even listen to that egotistical goof in the morning
He runs that show like Jerry Springer light
I stopped years ago
The only thing that fat pig is going to merge is a cheesteak with his face………that is all
Andy Greed = Bud Grant. Hall of fame QB. Lot’s of wins…No championships.
How did Mike Bell make this team? He runs like he’s on NFL films…in slow motion. Only it’s real time!
It amazes me to watch a college team like Oklahoma, Florida, or Texas with all this size and speed at RB and the every year the Eagles have a Reno Mahe on the roster.
If Andy Greed could get good production out of AJ Feely and super scrub Detner Kolb will be o.k. It’s just going take time and probably cost the team a shot at the play-offs. Which is a good thing. Now we won’t have to trade up to get somebody we’ll already be at the top.
What? What’s that? We’ve already decided to trade out of the 1st round…to Dallas? Always building for the future, when the only time we live in is today.
He should get tricky.
Bring in Kafka at QB and split Kolb wide right.
Either that or only have the receivers run 10-15 yards down the field. Kolb won’t be able to reach them any further than that. They should go with the empty backfield 90% of the game like Bellichick does since they’ll probably be without McCoy.
San Francisco must be licking their chops right now.
and this is the future lol
and please dont try and pump the 49ers up to be the 90’s niners
they r 0-4 alex smith is brutal they wont score points but can we score more than fing 12
Wait G, this can’t be right. All offseason we heard how now it’s going to be great to have a QB who can finally hit WRs in stride….. how good it’s going to be to have a QB who can throw a quick slant…. someone who can really run the west coast offense. Right? I guess people forget that Andy doesn’t really run the west coast offense and hasn’t since the year before TO got here and are best receivers are suited for down field plays but now we have a QB who’s scared to throw down field. What happened to the young guns?
Anyhow, I think this week will be a tough one because the Niners defense isn’t bad. They are aggressive and kept them in the gams against the Saints and the Falcons. They are very desperate right now. They will bring the heat so this will be a good test for the line and Kolb again to show that he can play with the big boys and not turn punk when he gets some pressure.
This 49er MAtch-up will be a yawner for sure..
It may come down to Special Teams play which has to be advantage 49ers..
My Pick right now is 49ers -13 and Eagles 9
If I was Jackson, I’d fall down too. Live to play another down. Forget that. If he gets a serious injury and can’t play like himself, the Eagles will have no problem tossing him to the side and Jackson will be out all that money. He is the Asante Samuel of the offense. He doesn’t doing the physical stuff but he does the game changing stuff. Let Avant, Celek and Cooper take the beating. I don’t know what the deal is with Maclin. He just looks scared sometimes. I mean for the most part no skilled player likes getting hit but you need to have the mentality of hit or be hit. Don’t stand there waiting for someone to hit you. Hit them first. I love it when I see RBs and WRs stiff arm, run over or throw a defensive player down. That’s the mentality you need to have in this league. A guy like Jackson can get away with going down because of his size and people will overlook that because of his big play ability. But for Maclin there is no excuse.
This is where it is good to have physical CBs in practice like Sheldon Brown was to challenge the receivers. Ellis Hobbs isn’t scared but he isn’t big and physical either. Cooper tossed his little behind around in camp. This team is just wimpy on bot sides of the ball. It’s said when your QB (Vick) is more willing to take big hits than some of your skilled players. You can’t coach heart.
i dont know who will win but pman ur score seems to be on the money and a yawner seems to be the perfect description awful
Yeah Paulman, I see a boring game that comes down to defense and special teams. With Alex Smith and Kevin Kolb as the 2 starting QBs, it may be a dreadful offensive showing for both teams. Their defense is better than ours and the only thing we have on special teams is Jackson punt returning but he doesn’t get many chances because everyone knows about him. That’s what happens in the NFL when you become a good returner, teams avoid you and you’re no longer good at it because you don’t have the chances anymore.
drummerwinslow = Lonewolf11 ?
I was showing McNabb the door and I’m fine with that today after watching Sundays game. I felt Kolb could run the offense and want to see him in the next few games. He has to show an ability to hit the open recievers downfield. He showed a real understanding of the offense last year and didn’t look wide eyed like he has this year. If he fails to earn the trust of the coaches then sign Vick long term and lets see how the offense goes.
Any playoff run this year is a bonus. This team is growing with 13 rookies on the roster, we just have to see improvement by the end of the year (especially special teams). I thought the Eagles looked really good for next year, but the lack of talent on both lines has me very concerned and lowered my expectations.
It will be difficult to do…I don’t think #10 & #18 were drafted for Kolb…They both are fast recievers who get down field for the big play which was for #5 …This will be in my opinion AR’s biggest challenge is to keep those two recvrs heads in the game..They both have much more bounce in their steps when catching the long ball. If #4 can’t do that they will disappear like we saw last Sun…
its so funny how like 2 months ago i was calling for open competition and dudes at my job are like r u kidding kolb is this that and the 3rd blah blah blah
get rid of mcnabb blah blah blah trade vick blah blah
now i come in yesterday and the same dudes r like yo will u get any word on vick lmao
whens he coming back
is he playing this week
we dont have a shot wo vick
so sad what a difference a month makes my god
I agree with the most of the Posters that with the speed and big play capability and talents of WR’s
D-Jax/Maclin just does not fit with a short-intermediate,pocket passer which is what Kolb is…
Moving forward with Kolb at the helm will be a challenged to Coaches AR/MM which is why they make the big bucks, Many times, the good coaches adjust schmes to the talents of their players..
Coachin AR shown a tendancy to be a little less flexible where it’s his Scheme or the Highway..
The sooner that Coaches AR/MM figure this out, the sooner and more effective Kolb will be
(which really should have been worked out and perfected in the off-season/camps/pre-season)
If the Coaches continue this same style off offense, kind of like a square peg thru a round hole mentalilty, then they are doing their themselves,the team,players no favors and are stting up the Eagles to fail.
so ur saying when the offense suits kevin kolb he will then excell hahahahaha
very sad this man gets more passes than wes welker
what r u gonna scheme
bring jackson and maclin out the backfield on passing plays
maybe start djax in owen schmitt position i dont understand lol
what scheme is for running back dumpoffs
Just the opposite PW,
The Eagles Current Offense if Kolb is at the helm, will not be able to fully utiluize their best strengths and assets which is their outside speed and big play/deep routes capability…
With Vick at the helm, they can keep it as it is for his molbility and stronger arm.
With Kolb, they can’t, for Kolb can’t get the ball deep so they will have to devise other schemes/routes to get the ball into the hands of their biggest playmakers, if not, than they are wasting their biggest strength as an offense..(which won’t surprise me with the way AR/MM operate)
Here’s a couple easy things to do
#1) Have more “bunch formations” but spread them out wider and not so close to the O/Lineman,where you 2-3 Wr’s coming out of a grouping to confuse the DB,s
#2) Put the WR’s more “in motion” so they can be running off the snap and more difficult to ‘chuck” at the line of scrimmage
well i agree with motion we rarely use motion or shifts cause andy takes 10 min to get the play in
Yeah Paulman those things could work but only for a while. A good defense will adjust to that as well which is why you need a QB who can hurt you in the short and deep passing game. Kolb is limited. And because of this our offense is limited which makes everyone including the coaches have to adjust their game and do different stuff. And this is whoever decided to trade McNabb’s fault. I know Kolb still has to go through some pains, but game experience isn’t going to make him a better big play passer. That’s both physical and mental. Reid saw that with Vick, he could run the same offense as he did with McNabb but with a more mobile and younger QB and knew he was the best QB for this job. Anyone that thought Kolb was better suited for these receivers or this offense doesn’t watch football. Not sure why all of a sudden everyone just figured Andy would revert to a traditional WCO. Andy doesn’t want to change offenses. He wants to score early and fast. If he wanted a WCO offense and play ball control he would run the ball like when Duce Staley, Buck and BWest were here and no WRs. Kolb has a lot to prove in a little time. If he goes out there and plays a couple average or worst games, he’s outta here and Vick will be resigned because you know what Vick is and no one has time to wait on Kolb, including Andy.
Yeah PW, no time for motion or shifts. By the time they get to the line of scrimmage play clock is almost run down.
And plays where the receiver is in motion will take a little longer to develop because the receiver now has to change his direction and still get down the field. So will Kolb wait or check it down to Owen Schmitt?
yea like i hear u guys saying chng the o a little to maximize kolb and for the next cpl games ur prob right
but chad pennington is a bum with a offense designed for him it dont matter hate to be negative but it doesnt matter to much what u do unless last yr’s chiefs are coming to town
these nexct 2hgames are a must if Eagles want to enterain any post-season hopes,
they should and wuil lhave to do anything to try to win the games this week..
I am more concerned about no RB McCoy… WHo is going to run,catch & block at the RB spot
(M Bell…are you kidding me)
There is also a strong possibility the CB Samuel and 4th WR R Cooper will be held out due to sustaining concussions last week… This Eagles team now has 3 healthy WR (D Jax-Maclin-Avant)
We are know that D-Jax and Maclin are a little fragile and shy of contact, what happens if one or both go down… who replaces CB Sammuel… (Hanson or Patterson)
Who on the Defensive front 7 is going to stop the 49ers F Gore.. Who is goign to cover TE V Davis
I think the Eagles have a whole lot more issues in front of them than the fact the Kolb will be playing at QB..With the 49ers offense and lack of their big play abilitity, If the Eagles can score 17 points, they can come out with a “WIN” which is what matters at this point…
Heres how….. He will waste 2 timeouts in the first q. Then…. peters will hold 2 times in the 2nd. Right before the half, andy will run on 3rd and 15 and throw on 4th and inches. the 2nd half will see Kafka hitting a new new fb ( DT T Laws), the birds will lose by 10, andy will make his weekly “i got to do a better job” speach, banner will send an email out to the world declaring that Andy is smarter then everyone and that we have the best roster and we will spend another week talking only about D Mcnabb.
JPH- are you banner? Are you kidding me with your post??
Its time to move forward. 3 years ago i said Fire andy and im sticking to it. our d is soft and small. Our o-line is fat, fragile and crap. Every year half our team is bangged up at the worst spots and our system doesnt work….we scored the most eagle points EVER last year and we still cant win in the playoffs. We need new ideas and we need the return of EAGLES D!!!!
i hear u pman but a good qb makes up for these things by scoring
clearly the biggest ? is at qb we wont score
scorpiodsu said “This team is just wimpy on bot sides of the ball. It’s said when your QB (Vick) is more willing to take big hits than some of your skilled players. You can’t coach heart.”
Never a truer statement has been uttered. Reid took this team and turned it into a bunch of pansies. especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Lonewolf who?
This team is not built for the WCO. small receivers cannot cut it in the scheme. Players are bigger and stronger now, then in San Frans hayday. We either need to adjust the offense (a la Vick) or change the starting receivers (a la Cooper)
I didn’t read every1’s posts but I have some things about the article in general.
AR believed McNabb could take over for Douggie P and win a SB too.
Why is it when Kolb “almost” throws a pick it’s highlighted over and over and over again..but Vick or McNabb does and no-one cares?
Too bad the Birds cut Baskett and Washington now huh?
Peyton Manning takes dives rather than get killed for a sack..it’s called self preservation. I’d rather DJax take the turf than a shot in the back anyday
So what exactly has DJax said on record about his contract. I’m tired of hearing what everyone thinks is going on, espically in the media. Unless you involved in the contract talks or the player put something on official record anything about what might or might not be going on about a contract shouldn’t be reported. But nooo it has to come up in every article about a player. It’s like when they still talk about Vick it’s always “Mike Vick, who served jail time for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting ring, threw for 3 TD’s and ran for 1 against the Jags……I mean WTF. Stop bringing it up..it’s irrelevant right now until DJax makes it relevant.
www
y is it owen schmitt is kolb’s #1 wr
forget about his almost picks every game he stinks 9 pts in 3qtrs is all he could come with vs the worse d in the league
he was still throwing check downs with 30 secs left so andy had to call a fing hook and lateral cause this bum won throw 20 yards down the field
how about all the clips of dudes running wide open 15 20 yards down field maybe fox was picking on him i mean they only showed him miss djax about 3 times and maclin once
go ahead www make the niners the joe montanna niners so u can defend him nxt week
there is no coincidence that we r 0-2 when kolb plays a half none at all
SOme interesting notes from around the NFL
#1) Dolphins fire their SPecialt teams Coach for the debacle that occurred in Monday evenings game
(I like a GM and Coach who take action, what will it take for Eagle to bounce B April on his head)
#2) Colts Safety M Bullitt (who was replacing starter B Sanders is also out for the Season with a broken shoulder. If Eagles were thinking about S Michael Lewis, they better do it soon for the Colts now need a safety)
#3) Panthers WR D Jarrett received his 2nd DWI offense in 3 years and will be released by the team by the end of the week, even though Starter S Smith is out injured, Panthers have no WR’s left
#4) REdskins C POrtis pulled Hamstring and unlikeley to play verus the Packers this week
#5) Big Ben comes back off Suspension (my guess is that he won’t start for another week or 2)
Coacg Tomlin will stary with C Batch for another game or 2 to send the message to Ben loud and clear
#6) Texans LB B Cushing returns from his supsension also and will probably be up and playing in
Week #6.. He a very good LB cut in the mold of the Packers MAtthews JR and we all know how the Eagles accoundted for him in Week #1…
Yeah it was Kolb’s fault that the TD was turned into a FG by the delay of game penalty
It was his fault a drive was stopped by McCoys fumble
It was his fault Peters stopped another drive in the 4th quarter with his holding penalty
And it was his fault it was 14-0 when he came in
no it is not. But until K Kolb shows ANYTHING on the field we shouldnt even be saying his name. This mess is andys fault….AGAIN!!!!
” He has to show an ability to hit the open recievers downfield. He showed a real understanding of the offense last year and didn’t look wide eyed like he has this year. If he fails to earn the trust of the coaches…”
NOPE!! MAYBE!!! I GUESS!!! ALREADY HAS!!!!
Wellwell
Kolb throws downfield very little, but when he does, he throws into coverage a good majority of the time. That’s why it gets highlighted.
It seems people want to isolate certain plays. The fact is that Kolb has done NOTHING since being introduced in the Baltimore game, except log a win against Kansas City. Since that time, he has only regressed. Even Bobby Hoying had his moment. That’s why some thought he’d be Joe Montana. When you look at Kolb’s overall body of work, he sucks.
Dont’ you think people would have blamed McNabb for the delay of game penalty? Every QB has to deal with plays being called back and fumbles. It seems Kolb must have the perfect players and situations if he is to have any chance to succeed. Like most things in life, playing QB in the NFL
Dont’ you think people would have blamed McNabb for the delay of game penalty? Every QB has to deal with plays being called back and fumbles. It seems Kolb must have the perfect players and situations if he is to have any chance to succeed. Like most things in life, playing QB in the NFL is about overcoming adversity. Kolb has shown no propensity to thrive in the most perfect of situations. He’s got weapons. McNabb played 8 years with only 1 weapon. Yet, he went to the pro bowl and won playoff games.
point blank, the offense sucks without Vick!
For a long time, people thought Andy new linemen, because he was a lineman and because he correctly acquired John Runyan and Tra Thomas. He’s had some success, but he’s also had some failures, most recently. Let’s not forget that the scouting staff has changed by Reid. Since that change, Reid’s failures have increased. Is it possible that he was wrong about Kolb, as well?